The man who found the body of little James Bulger as a teenager likely swallowed packages of drugs before his death in custody years later. James Riley, 44, had been arrested by officers on suspicion of drug offences.

Later, he was found dead on the floor of the cell he was kept in overnight by in March, 2023. MrRiley was later pronounced dead a the Royal Liverpool University Hospital. A jury inquest heard before Liverpool and Wirral senior coroner André Rebello, held over six days at the Gerard Majella courthouse in Kirkdale, concluded Mr Riley's medical cause of death was cocaine and heroin toxicity.

The court also heard Mr Riley suffered an "extremely traumatic incident" when he was a teenager, which was confirmed to his finding of the body of toddler James Bulger. Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, both aged 11, were found guilty in 1993 of killing the two-year-old.

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